This month's EVO

[jonrb 0]

Saw a letter in this month's EVO from a reader with the same real name as our resident "I'm going to keep it standard, honest guv" merchant cheesewire

 

Was that you, Kev? :)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I did email Evo a while ago but I got a bounced email notifier so didn't think it got through. What was the letter regarding?

 

I think I was defending the Veyron IIRC, LOL!

[jonrb 0]

Yep - that's the one. :)

[Jim 1]

lol - what did you write mate?

 

Makes me think of some angry old General sitting at his desk thinking "I'll write to the Times about this!" - Evo is the auto enthusiasts equivilant ;)

[jonrb 0]

Kev was tearing a strip off Gordan Murray for have a sack of spuds on his shoulder over the Veyron. ;)

 

(It was actually far better worded and reasoned than that. :) )

[vwdeviant 0]

Kev, sling the mail up if you still have it....

[Yandards 0]

Heh nice one Kev, Top Gear the other night highlighted just what a superb piece of engineering that car is: 200-300kph in 9 secs - mental!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Christ, so it got through?! I feel embarrassed now. It's like seeing yourself on Video camera, not nice :lol:

 

I have actually got this month's copy and haven't read the letters yet, I'll check later and see what they've edited out, if anything, LOL!

 

I sent it from my Blackberry so won't have a copy unfortunately.

 

Basically, I always read the staff columns, particularly Gordon Murray's as he's a man with his head screwed on when it comes to car design.....BUT..... every month, he rants on about cars having to be light weight to be any good and to have any sporting credentials....in other words, just like his F1.

 

I remember when the Veyron first came out, he attacked it for having so much power to do the same job his car did in 1993.

 

Well, that ruffled my feathers slightly and I took issue with it but I never thought they'd print it :shock: :lol:

 

Yes Mr Murray is a clever man but some people do actually like the excess of the Veyron. It's a ground breaking car and he dismisses it as a bloated marketing excercise, but everyone who drives it is astounded by the handling and we all saw how stable it was sat at 407kmh on Sunday night :shock: AND it is better appointed inside than most penthouse apartments!! I was just trying to put to Mr Murray that he shouldn't be so blinkered by the way HE defines a sports car.

VERY, VERY few Supercars come close to the Veyron's all round ability and luxury and I don't feel that should be dismissed because other designers and Supercar manufacturers are jealous they don't have the same Budget VW do ;-)

 

Have a read of the letter and see if you agree with my rantings :lol:

[Jim 1]

I think there was an article in Top Gear mag a while back where they plopped Murray into a Veyron and whilst he did still reiterate a lot of the stuff you said Kev, he did concede that the finished product impressed him far more than he ever expected and that it was a hugely more capable car than he thought it would be.

 

I can see a lot of arguments against the Veyron I guess but I think its a masterpiece of engineering. Look how much of a pounding all the mags have been giving it when they finally get a chance to test drive it - i've not heard of any of them going *pop* yet..? :)

[Yandards 0]

I think James May summed it up perfectly, the Veyron is a 'concorde moment'

 

A fantastic piece of engineering that manages to both mindnumbingly fast but at the same time a luxury car too.

 

I would expect a no compromises stripped out racing version, not that they would ever make one, to be even quicker.

 

Problem is, I think, that is very easy to have a go at the Veyron. But most journos ignore the attention to detail that has been invested into the car - 250mph and it seemed more than happy and not about to shake itself to pieces.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Ah yes, my 'attack' at Murray did indeed make it into this month's Evo :oops:

 

Having re-read it, I wish I hadn't bothered :lol: Still, Evo obviously though it worthy of print and as suscribers, we are entitled to our onions ;-)

 

Actually, I think the point I was trying to get across was that I applaud both Murray and VW for their single minded approaches to make what they wanted, and to hell with the costs / outside cynasism.

 

But what tickled my frustration bud was Murray's car was universally praised (but dynamically flawed) in 1993, but the Veyron was met with "what's the point?" " too excessive", "Environmentally irresponsible" blah blah.... that is until these critics actually drove it :-)

 

So how are the two companies so different? They both met their objectives, both cars cost stupid amounts of money to design and build and both set records! So imo, the Veyron deserves just as much credit as the F1, it's just that motoring journos are going to side with the ex boss of Mclaren more so than a huge German car conglomerate aren't they? ;-)

 

Just my 87p worth....

 

And the Vey rocks.....250mph all day long. What other supercar could drive to the salt flats, pull umpteen top speed runs, and then drive back home again? Not many. And how many of those have sumptuous interiors, air bags, decent stereo, one off, hand made alloy interior parts? Fewer still. And of the remaining few, how many will retain at least 90% residual value after 3 years?

[jonrb 0]

And the Vey rocks.....250mph all day long

Well, apart from having to gas up every 12 mins and change tyres every 15 mins. ;)

[ziderapple 0]

which evo is this in? I have the £10k heroes one (101) and cant seem to see the letter. Just to add it was the first evo I bought, and what a truly great motoring mag, think I'll be staring up a subscription.

 

I love the Veyron, if I had a big enough lottery win I'd get my hands on one some how, totally awesome.

[jonrb 0]

It's 102

 

Mine is a subscription copy, but past form has shown that's not a guarantee of getting it before the newsagents so I would imagine it's available to buy now.

[ziderapple 0]

Thanks. :thumbleft:

[TomB 0]

ziderapple, I'd recommend subscribing as they give you stuff & it works out cheaper. Cracking magazine.